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173
on the same day, it, nevertheles br9ght the need for the urgent
initiation of sanitary legislation before Parliament in clear, succinct
terms .
By the officially published "Statistics of Tasmania for 1855",
it appears that 1692 deaths took place in that )ear out of a
free population of 62,222 individuals , - that is, at the rate
o{ about 27,000 per million of' inhabitants ; ·whereas in the
great Metropolis of England, on an averae of fifteen years
(including two years when cholera raged so destructively) the
mortality per mfllion was only 24,883 ... the disproportion
for Hobarton, and its - rural sub-districts of Brown•s and the
Huon Rivers, ' for 1855, was even greater than the foregoing;
Your Petitioner classed and tabled from the Hobarton Registry
752 deaths (exclusive of Military) as having occurred in these
districts from the 1st January to 31st December, 1855 , out of
a free population of about 23,000 individuals : that is , at the
rate of nearly 8,000 deaths per million of population more than
in London; or an excess of nearly 32 per cent of deaths, even
in the comparatively favourab le year of 1855. 1
Actually Hall was gratified to hear some weeks later that the Registrar
of the Supreme Court, W. Sorell, now also the Registrar of Births , Deaths
and Marriages from January 1, had courteously and sensibly adopted some
of his s:uggestions for improving the returns , including the tab ling in
Parliament of a numerical return of deaths registered in all the
Registration districts of Tasmania. 2
Hall•s determination to improve the health situation in Hobarton
was strengthened by the annual report of the Medical Officer of Health on
the sanitary condition of the City of London, which disclosed that the
death rate there had been reduced from a general average of 24 per 1000 to
22. But he was becoming impatient at the failure of his fellow citizens
·to respond to,his warnings .
From the beginning of 1857 a subtle
difference in his attitude was noticeable, due possibly to his full
realisation of the truth , pity for his fellow-citizens , and frustration
at his own lack of achievement .
Convinced of the correctness of his
opinions , he assumed a position of authority in Public Health and Vital
Statistics , to the annoyance of some of his professional colleagues and
others who opposed him.
Nevertheless , the situation was a stalemate;
the Legislature
decreed that Public Health was the affair of the Municipal Council and
declined to interfere;
the civic body, though well intentioned, was
1
2
L.C .J. , 1856/2.
L.C.J. , 1856/14 .